Monday, May 5, 2014

Critique Partners

It
looks like I missed several poetry days. I hadn’t posted on my blog because I
was revising my women’s fiction novel, Fogged
Up Fairy Tale, and working on a book of short stories, Snapshot Stories. I’m getting down to the nitty gritty of my novel,
so I also took the time to look for another critique partner. It’s harder than revising.

Critiques
are one of the creative services I offer. I know how hard it is to find a good critique
partner, and how extremely important it is to have one during revisions. A
writer should pay for a critique if they are unable to find a partner. A critique is critical in assisting the writer with finding flaws and letting
them know when something is working. They help mold the book.

My
critiques are thorough when it comes to character, plot, writing, style,
dialogue, details, show vs. tell, and inconsistencies. When I work on someone’s
book or short story, I want their works to be a success. They get the most from
me or I wouldn’t waste my time. Some might say my critiques are brutally
honest, but I don’t think I’m to the extreme. Honesty is important when analyzing
works, so I tell it like it is using examples to back up my comments. My
critiques also embrace praise when I see something is working or find a great
line or phrase. I believe it’s important to let the writer know what they’re doing
right as well as where I think they could use some help. In the end, the writer
is going to choose what they deem beneficial to their works.

Finding
a good critique partner is a grueling process. Everyone’s writing is different,
and they are at different stages in their writing career. Also, if you find
flaws and faults in a writer’s work, they might retaliate by marking up your
work without cause. This has happened to me in the past. It takes time looking
for and testing out critique partners.

I
have a great critique partner and I thought another point of view would be
great at this stage in my revisions. After posting on social media that I was
looking for a critique partner, two women contacted me the same week, so we set
up some guidelines. The first woman found me on Tumblr, and wanted
to know if I was interested in swapping stories. Unfortunately, it turned out
English wasn’t her first language, and it would have been more of an edit than
a critique. I contacted her and explained why I couldn’t continue with the swap. She was very nice, and accepted my decline without argument or
insults.

The
second woman was flexible with deadlines, but
I stressed the importance in keeping with a bi-weekly schedule. It turned out
that we were at different stages in our writing careers, so the swaps wouldn’t
be beneficial. Again, I sent an email explaining why I couldn’t continue with
the critique. Thank goodness she was another nice woman who agreed that we
weren’t a good fit.

I’m back to one. But hey, I’m not complaining, I’d
rather have one great critique partner than five bad ones.

6 comments:

We're lucky in that we make great critique partners, not just because we both enjoy the same style of writing (and are familiar with it) but because we're honest with each other. If I'm giving you my writing it's because I want your honest feedback, not just to pat me on the back and say "Looks good!"

Yeah, you two have it made. You're lucky to have found someone who is honest, and has the same writing style. I agree about feedback. I have to know what is and isn't working. If I'm on my 5th or 6th draft, and much of it is looking good, then I'm all right with it. :)

Some critique partners stick, and others don't. I've also tried a couple that I ended up not exchanging more with because the level of feedback I was seeking was not there. Now that one of my tried and true partners is busy being an agent's assistant, I'm trying a somewhat new critique partner. I think it's going to work. I try to establish partnerships with people I already know a bit via my blog.

I'm sure this is difficult to achieve. I have always gotten super feedback from my wife, Dorothy. We like reading each other's stuff and talking about impressions, disconnects and speed bumps. We do the same things with various landscape design projects. We are always interested in what works and what doesn't. Understanding context is difficult and essential. I have often found that when you step back and view something in context, all sorts of "mandatory" things pop out at me. "Oh, no. You mean if I do this and this then I've gotta do this other stuff, too? Well, who knew." That sort of observation is necessary, because readers or viewers will probably see it, too. The absence will leave a huge void.

Jim, I think it's great. My husband also critiques my novels and he's great at it. Sometimes I think the story is flowing for my husband because he knows me. He knows how I think so something that he understands might not be clear to another reader. This is the reason I like another critique. But my husband does a great job at pointing things out. He's so good at it that I forget his native language is German.